There's a whooole lotta game influence in this one, but I don't read a lot of game!verse fics so I'm not sure about the general fandom headcanons and whatnot. Ash's opponent is meant to be a female Ace Trainer from ORAS, because I adore that design.

If you feel like there's TAC influence in this then you'd be 100% right, that fic is my entire life. Enjoy!

A: AFFILIATION.

Misty stared pointedly the big screen from her seat in the League box. It was playing some ad about the latest Silph Co product and she was hardly interested, but she kept her focus on it lest anyone think her attention lay otherwise.

Like the opening of the tunnel from which the red trainer was supposed to enter.

But even thinking about it was enough to give into temptation, and she quickly glanced towards it. There was no one there, and that was to be expected – the countdown clock said there was still fifteen minutes left till start, after all.

It was for barely a second, but Lance noticed.

"You must be looking forward to this one," he commented.

She kept a straight face, eyes not moving from the big screen. "One of them could end up battling me. I'm just doing my homework."

"Is that why you're so nervous?"

"I'm anticipating an interesting battle."

"Interesting's the word, isn't it?"

She remained silent. From the corner of her eye, she could see Koga watching her carefully. She lifted her hands from her place on her lap and crossed her arms, leaning back in her seat with a deep frown.

Will chuckled. "You know, Misty," he winked, "You don't have to get so antsy. Your relationship with Ash Ketchum is no secret, especially in the Indigo regions."

Karen snorted. "Especially after that news report."

Misty pinched the bridge of her nose. The report had been something her colleagues would never let her forget. Ash Ketchum, on his second tour of Kanto, had somehow managed to save the world again – only this time, he ended up on the news for it. And of course, the time he got somewhat famous had to be the time Misty was involved. The boy hadn't realised the attention he'd draw when he announced he was gunning to enter the Indigo Conference and casually slung his arm around an Elite Four member all in the space of a minute. An up-and-coming trainer like him alone might've been a trending topic for no more than a day; add Misty to the mix and people were talking about him for a week. He'd gained a small fan base by his first match at the conference, and it only grew exponentially all the way through the finals. The first few rounds had the camera focusing on Misty for a disproportionate amount of time, waiting for a nice reaction shot that could play on the news for the rest of the night. She, of course, remained stoic as was possible for her, even wearing large sunglasses that hid her cheeks and eyebrows for good measure. Soon enough they lost interest in her, and just focused on the trainer himself.

Ash had always managed to be pretty endearing on his own, anyway.

"Could you guys let that go?" she groaned.

"We're not bringing it up nearly as much as we would have if people started accusing us of favouring him over others. His battling's been fine enough for people not to be suspicious –"

"Fine enough?!" Misty said incredulously.

"Keep your cool, Misty," he warned before she could keep going, and she huffed and turned back to the screen. It was showing a run down of Ash's stats, first in this conference and then across his career. She couldn't help the pride that swelled up in her chest when she saw the rapid increase in all the graphs flashing across the screen. Ash may not have cared as much about stats and values as other ace competitors, but he was still doing all the right things to ensure a steady improvement in his career and the numbers showed for it.

The next screen was a comparison between Ash and his competitor. His opponent had the slight advantage, but everyone close enough to him knew better – Ash Ketchum had a habit of coming out on top when the odds were against him.

It was something Lance had picked up on, too. "Should Ash win," Lance said carefully, "And should he beat both Will and Koga, I need to know that your … affiliation with him won't get in the way of your match."

She was furious. Sure, she'd only been an Elite Four member for just under a year, but she would've thought the man who instated her into her position would have a little more faith in her. She hadn't known Ash was coming back to the Kanto when she had applied for Bruno's old position – and even if she did, it shouldn't have mattered. It wouldn't have mattered.

Before she could speak up, Koga beat her to the punch. "I'm sure she'll treat him like she'll treat any other competitor, Lance. In fact," he turned to her, giving her a knowing look, "If my previous experiences with them are anything to go by, she might even go harder on him."

She'd nearly forgotten all about the fact that Koga had met them when they were both just ten years old and he was still a gym leader. Back then Ash was given most of his badges out of pity, rather than being the ace trainer he was today – and Misty hadn't had nearly the control over her temper that she had now, exploding any moment she couldn't deal with her feelings, which was often.

She shook herself out of her train of thought before turning to give Lance a hard stare. He returned the gesture, completely unperturbed by her anger, before he nodded and looked away. "And if he goes easy on you?"

She snorted. "He'd be dead if he tries that, and he knows it. You don't have to worry."

"Ouch," Karen winced, "And my boyfriends thought I was brutal when I delegated them to the couch."

Almost like they were expecting it, her cheeks started searing. "Wha–?! He's not –!" She paused to take a deep breath, "We're just friends."

"Huh. I was only joking before, Misty. I didn't realise you were actually into him."

Misty scrunched up her face in a deep scowl. Will chuckled, and even Lance cracked a smile. She was ready to retort with something snippy, when a voice came through the speaker.

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Indigo Conference Final!"

She eyed the countdown on the big screen, which showed less two minutes remaining till the competitors came out onto the field. The announcer gave a brief – and overly romanticised – summary of both the trainers. Ash's opponent made her way out onto the field first – she was a young lady from Hoenn with green hair, wearing one of those red and yellow Hoenn League tracksuits that she'd always see a few competitors wear whenever she watched the Ever Grande Conference on TV. She didn't have much time to dwell on that, however, when the crowd went ballistic as Ash stepped out onto the field.

He didn't look much different to the last time she'd seen him, or even to the last time she'd seen him at a Conference. He still had that same determined look in his eyes as he surveyed the field, and then looked across at his opponent; Pikachu was a carbon copy of his trainer on his shoulder, and Misty could tell he was pumped and ready to go. But then, Ash did something he hadn't done in the entire tournament before – he looked up.

She caught his eye almost immediately. She wasn't sure whether she should react, especially when he was so obviously looking at her in front of thousands of people and the Kanto League Champion. But she had to do a double-take when she noticed something else in his eyes – uncertainty. Which made sense, since Misty had spent the entire conference only speaking to him through phone or text, and she kept their conversations as short as she possible could. Lance couldn't possibly expect her to not show any support for her best friend, but she could understand his reasoning and respected his wishes for the most part. Ash had insisted he understood and that she didn't have to feel guilty about it – but until today, he'd been pretty good at hiding how unhappy it made him.

So she smiled softly. And he broke into one of those stupid huge grins that split his face in two, and she felt her breath hitch in her throat. She raised a clenched fist over her chest, and Ash tipped his hat at her before shifting his gaze back to the field and moving towards his opponent to shake her hand. Pikachu finally looked up at her and shot her a small peace sign; she couldn't help but let out a small laugh.

"So much for impartiality, huh?" Karen mused.

"Oh yes," Will agreed, "The press definitely caught that."

Misty looked around at her colleagues, expecting them to disapprove, but they only looked amused. Even Lance, though stoic, didn't seem to be angry. She turned back to look at Ash and Pikachu, the boy kneeling down to speak to his constant companion before the match, the same grin on his face that he'd given her.

"I can't help it," she said, her own smile widening as she watched them. "He's my best friend."